When you have a headache, it may not always be correct to define the headaches that you hear around you or talk to those in your family who have headaches as migraine. Migraine headache is just one type of headache and may cause symptoms that can be confused with other types of headaches. This appears as a bias in misleading yourself and your doctor..
The diagnosis of headache is made by the detailed headache story told by the patient. The words "I had an MRI, I had migraine" or "I had an MRI, I didn't have migraine" are misdirections that our patients frequently use but have no medical validity. In order to diagnose a headache, first of all, the patient must explain his headache in detail and the physician must listen in detail.
The most important points when explaining the headache are as follows:
How old have you been having your headache?
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How many years have you had a headache?
Do you have one type or several types of headaches?
How often do you have headaches?
Does anyone else in your family suffer from headaches?
What kind of complaints do you have between periods when you have headaches?
Do your headaches affect your school or work performance?
What happens when you have a headache? And you need to share what you feel with your doctor, such as:
Where is the pain in your head?
What kind of pain is it? (Is it compressive, throbbing, stabbing?)
How many points out of 10 would you give your headache?
Head How long does your pain last?
Does your headache give you some signs that it will start beforehand?
Your headache usually occurs during the day. At what time does it start?
Do you see visual disturbances, blind spots or bright lights before the headache?
Along with the headache? Is there weakness, nausea, sensitivity to sound or light, change in appetite, change in behavior?
How often do you suffer from headaches?
You should tell your doctor in detail about the medications you have used for your headaches before. You should bring to your doctor the tests or imaging studies requested by other doctors you have seen before. This will save time and prevent unnecessary new tests. After this, the neurologist will perform a detailed examination and rule out other factors that may cause migraine or other headaches. Many causes of headaches are benign, innocent causes. After your headache history, physical and neurological examination, your neurologist will make a diagnosis regarding the type of your headache. Meanwhile, additional tests may be requested to help diagnosis. These tests are generally not diagnostic for migraine, cluster headache, or tension headache. Blood and urine tests, thyroid tests, tests for diabetes, and tests for some infections may be aimed at finding the real cause of your headaches. Sometimes MRI, tomography or sinus radiographs are requested to find the real cause of your headache.
The most common headaches:
Tension-type headache: The most common headache. is the type. It occurs in a compressive manner on both sides of the head or in the neck. There is also sensitivity to sound and light. The most common causes are sitting disorders, stress, intense work tempo, skipped meals, depression and lack of sleep.
Migraine: Throbbing on one side of the head; It increases with walking, talking or movement, is accompanied by nausea, there is sensitivity to sound, smell and light, there is an excessive interest in food on the day before the pain, some have some findings (aura) before, simultaneously or after (light flashes, fluctuations in vision or These are headaches with blind spots. Factors that trigger migraine are primarily genetic and environmental factors. In addition, hormonal factors, sleep disorders, stress, skipped meals, smoking, bright lights and stress can also be counted as factors that trigger migraine. Foods (wine, some cheeses, sausage, salami and pickled foods) can also be counted as other factors.
Cluster headache: It starts suddenly, behind one eye. It concentrates in . It usually occurs at the same time of day and in the same place and can last for weeks. The first 5-10 minutes are very severe and can last up to 3 hours. There may be redness in the eye where the pain occurs and discharge from the nostril on that side. There may be sensitivity to light, sound and smell. As with migraine, you may experience nausea and some symptoms called "aura" before the pain. It usually happens at night and wakes you up from sleep. It occurs most frequently in spring and autumn, so it can be confused with allergies. Irregular sleep, smoking and alcohol are the main triggering factors. If it is in your family, there is a high probability that you will have it too.
Sinusitis pain: Because it causes pain in the face and eyes, people often think they have a migraine. However, this pain may also be accompanied by fever and nasal fullness. When the infection is treated, your pain will go away.
Secondary headaches (headaches that occur due to other reasons): These are headaches that occur due to other reasons such as sinusitis. These include blows to the head, some vascular anomalies (aneurysm, etc.), tumors, blows to the head and epilepsy.
To distinguish all these, a detailed interview with your doctor and The examination will reveal the type of pain you have.
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